Cleaning house

This is not earth shattering news, I realize. Yet it has felt like as busy as I’ve been, for the longest time I have settled for surface clean and just had to live with that.

I’m not sure whether I was just tired to begin with or whether frustration that things weren’t as clean as I wanted them made me tired – but, regardless, I’ve gotten to the point in the past few weeks where I almost felt like a stranger in my own home, not recognizing what surrounded me.

(If you don’t know me well, you’re likely conjuring up images that rival an episode of Hoarders in your mind … let me assure you that in reality, my messy is the great majority of people’s “looks just fine to me.”)

Today was different.

I awakened early, and knew where my day would head before my feet hit the floor. I needed things to change. Every fiber of my body needed to dig deep and clean with intensity my beloved house hasn’t seen in many weeks.

So off I went, starting on one end of the house and working my way to the other. Dusting, scrubbing, polishing. Sweeping, mopping, vacuuming. No room escaped without attention and no corner was left untouched.

It was hard work.

Exhausting, actually. And yet, as I sit here and look around me, it was worth every single moment. I can breathe easy and just relax in the comfort of a home that fits me again.

Sometimes God needs to clean house, too.

There are times that He looks at us, His beloved, and sees that we’ve made a royal mess of things. We’ve cluttered our lives with imbalanced priorities, unhealthy habits, and misplaced trust.

Oddly, often those around us would observe us and think we “look just fine.” They do not see any of those messes that instantly catch our Father’s eyes.

It’s in these moments that God takes out His broom and begins sweeping the cobwebs away, tackling every corner, every dark recess of our hearts and minds.

Cleaning house isn’t always easy.

Sometimes we feel God scrubbing away at a particularly stubborn patch, determined to leave it spotless. Other times we fight against His hand as they begin to wipe away the grime, desperately clinging to the very things that have been eating away at us.

Thankfully, God is patient. He waits for us to let go, wipes us clean, and then tenderly caresses our hearts and souls, reminding us that only in Him are we really, truly home.

How blessed we are to be outrageously loved just exactly as we are by God, and even more that His love is so wide that He cannot leave us there.

Understand this:

He delights in making us white as snow. In other words, He rejoices in cleaning house.

Just imagine that for a moment. Cleaning house is worthy of rejoicing?! Sheds a whole new light on such a normally mundane task, doesn’t it?

Like this:

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2 responses to “Cleaning house”

How did I not see this post before?? I’ve been rolling an idea around in my head for tomorrow’s post, and – lo and behold – you’ve already nailed it!

This was so good, my friend. You’re right: “How blessed we are to be outrageously loved just exactly as we are by God, and even more that His love is so wide that He cannot leave us there.” Amen, and amen!

By the way, my house DOES look a bit like Hoarders, and I’m not proud of it. Consider yourself warned. 🙂